While in Hawaii last November I visited the Bergstrom green houses which were in very much disarray. The setting is like a slum area of some third world country. The plants were all overgrowing the pots, the benches were dirty and the plants were mostly unlabelled. The owner insisted he would label anything we selected. I selected a few Brassias, two of which were in bloom. He labelled them (incorrectly) and after we gathered our selections, he had stuck in another pot that I didn't select or want. It was labelled as a cross, but it really was a mix of three seperate plants (all species). He charged me anyways. The price was cheep enough but so far nearly everything has died, been not-as-advertised, or clearly not even the advertized genus. I would never buy again from this person.

I've ordered from Bergstrom's three or four times in the past five years. Every order was as described, in good condition, and promptly shipped. (I've sometimes found the orchids from Hawaii vendors to be larger and/or healthier than those from mainland vendors.) I've also emailed Bergstrom for cultural information about his orchids and gotten prompt informative replies.

Every transaction I've had with this seller has resulted in very significant irregularites. The seller delivered plants much smaller than described in the first transaction. These were returned to the seller who was unable to deliver the plants he originally described. Another transaction resulted in a larger quantity of plants delivered than were requested. We just accepted the additional plants and paid for them. In another more recent transaction a large number of plants were delivered and billed though they were not requested. In addition, other plants that were requested and never delivered. One plant lot arrived with some labels saying "cross self" with other plants labled as the clone itself. None of the plants were supposed to be selfings.